Habitat for Humanity Opening its First ReStore in West Roxbury

Most people know Habitat for Humanity for building homes, but soon they may be known for the organization's ReStores.

On Saturday, there will be the grand opening of the first ReStore in the Greater Boston area. Please notice the spelling of the new retail business at 1580 VFW Parkway - ReStore. That's not a spelling mistake.

Lark Palermo, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, explained what makes the business unique, "A ReStore is the name that Habitat has developed to descibe the retail venture that we are now opening. It really is a store that is reselling items that are donated. The primary merchandise is building materials and furniture. To give you an example, we get a lot of new building materials because a developer (may) purchase 100 vanities for an apartment building, but then decided it wasn’t the right vanity, instead they donated it to us."

Palermo said savings will be passed on to the customer, "You’ll be buying it at a discount. We’re getting these items for free, unless we pick it up. Our product comes to us for free and we sell it at a discount. You can come and buy brand new items if you're doing renovations to your house... Do-it-yourselfers are a huge market for us, or landlords that want to buy things."

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit and the funds will go to support Habitat's projects in the Greater Boston area, such as the projects in Roslindale, Dorchester or Jamaica Plain, that are currently ongoing. Habitat's Greater Boston area encompasses Boston and a surrounding 25 municipalities. 

On Saturday starting at 11 a.m. there is a scheduled ribbon cutting with Mayor Thomas Menino, City Councilor Matt O'Malley, music and coverage from Boston 101.7 WFNX’s Henry Santoro, refreshments, prizes - and good deals on gently-used furniture and appliances, building materials, cabinets, fixtures, and other home-improvement items. 

Another good aspect that Palermo pointed out is that ReStore's are helping the environment because most of the donations could very well have ended up in a landfill. Donations are also tax-deductible.